"Since the president became the president, we have lost 3.3 million jobs in the private sector. But you know who's done OK and who's not complaining today? The public sector. We've gained 590,000 public sector jobs."

To hear some members of Congress talk, the government’s gone on a hiring binge – at taxpayer expense -- while private-sector hiring is in the dumps. That’s not only lopsided, they say, but it wasn’t the way the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the stimulus bill, was supposed to work.

U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette appears to hold this sentiment. Addressing a gathering of the Portage County Tea Party on July 6, the Bainbridge Township Republican noted how other nations are adopting austerity budgets to deal with their economic problems. Yet, LaTourette said, President Barack Obama seems to think that saving government money is a crazy idea, and told world leaders as much during the Group of 20 summit in Canada in late June.

Obama "chastised them and he said, ‘You guys are nuts,’ " LaTourette said, according to a complete online video of LaTourette’s speech to the Tea Party group.

Characterizing Obama’s statements further, LaTourette said the U.S. president told the globe’s economic leaders, "We need to spend more money. We need to stimulate the economy with government spending.’

"And so as a result," LaTourette told his Portage County audience, "since the president became the president, we have lost 3.3 million jobs in the private sector. But you know who's done OK and who's not complaining today? The public sector. We've gained 590,000 public sector jobs."

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